The Art of Seduction
by tromana
Summary: Lisbon was so used to focusing one hundred percent on the job that she just wasn’t used to flirtation or the mere concept of being seduced. Jane/Lisbon. Jello Forever Secret Santa Gift for Ebony10. Complete.
1. Softly Does It

**Title:** The Art of Seduction  
**Author:** tromana  
**Rating:** T  
**Characters:** Jane/Lisbon, Team  
**Disclaimer:** Not mine.  
**Summary:** Lisbon was so used to focusing one hundred percent on the job that she just wasn't used to flirtation or the mere concept of being seduced. Jane/Lisbon  
**Notes:** Jello-Forever Secret Santa Gift for the super lovely Ebony10, who asked for _"Jane is ready for a relationship with Lisbon, but she keeps missing the hints."_

**Part One - Softly Does It**

Sometimes, it's the strangest of things that give you a kick up the backside.

For Jane, it was overhearing Cho's sardonic comment to Rigsby: _"You're gonna die alone."_

A year ago, six months even, that wouldn't have bothered him so much. In fact, as long as he took down Red John with him, the sooner he died, the better. That would mean he would no longer be suffering in this half-life, trapped in a horrific kind of limbo between the living and the dead. Theoretically alive, his brain still active and heart still beating, but frozen. Not wanting to live, not feeling any emotions other than guilt, anger and rage. Not _wanting_ to feel any emotions other than guilt, anger and rage.

He hadn't counted on a little, dark haired senior agent, however. And she'd managed to worm her way into his affections without either of them quite realizing it. Not only that, but he found himself liking their flirtatious banter and slowly, but surely, discovering that he had the desire to actually act upon it, too. Of course, Cho had helped too, but Jane was not about to give him any credit for it. He doesn't want to feed his ego; Jane knows how dangerous that can be all too well.

Still, this was going to take a lot of consideration, of course. Teresa Lisbon wasn't just any woman. She was, well, she was Lisbon.

But then again, if _Rigsby_, of all people, could finally get his girl, then there was absolutely no reason why he couldn't too. That's not to say that Rigsby was completely useless when it came to women, just a little clumsy with his emotions, so to speak.

Jane smiled brightly as she stomped out of her office and into the bullpen, a manila folder emblazoned with the CBI logo in one hand and a mug of coffee in the other. When he managed to catch her gaze, Lisbon simply frowned in response and wordlessly beckoned her team around her. Usually, he'd just prop himself up on his couch, only listening to every third word or so - knowing that that is usually enough for him to get the gist of whatever the new case is about. She didn't say anything about it when he approached her along with the others and perched himself on the corner of Rigsby's desk, but she didn't need to. The crease between her eyebrows deepened a little in her confusion as she outlined the details she had just received.

"Family reunions," Rigsby suddenly spluttered and Lisbon gazed at him quizzically. "I hate family reunions."

Jane had to hide his smirk as the rest of the team portrayed a variety of emotions in response to Rigsby's sudden outburst. Van Pelt couldn't look more aghast even if she tried and even Cho was doing a very good impression of looking distinctly unimpressed. Lisbon couldn't help but think he had a point though. After all, they were usually more chaotic than relaxing, falsified and forced than honest, and the majority of people generally had things to do and better places to be. Or, that was her experience of them at the very least. Maybe Cho and Van Pelt, who she knew were both very close to their families, had had a far better experience of them than she did. But then again, at times, she did still wish she had her parents to go home to during holidays and brothers who actually cared enough about what she was doing to invite her home every so often. Instead, she was alone, which was alright most of the time. But still, there were times…

"Anyway," she continued, trying to quickly regain some control of the situation. "Regardless of Rigsby's opinion of family reunions, it appears that we're gate crashing one."

Five minutes later, Jane was safely buckled inside the van with Lisbon in the driver's seat. Due to his complete abhorrence of family gatherings, Rigsby had opted to stay behind, allowing Van Pelt and Cho to travel in the other car. Lisbon sighed; this was going to be a long day and it didn't help that Jane was grinning goofily at her. As she drove, surprisingly in silence for a change, she decided that if she wasn't already perpetually suspicious of Jane, this would have been one of those situations that would have made her decide at least to be somewhat concerned. There was no reason for him to be acting so out of character and Lisbon was at least ninety five percent certain that she couldn't blame 'something in the air'. And that was even though she was already fairly sure that something was going on between Rigsby and Van Pelt. She'd already decided that she was going to play the deniability card with that one for as long as feasibly possible.

That still didn't explain Jane's personality transplant though.

The local PD had done a marvelous job at actually managing to keep the family together and that was in spite of the fact that the fuming mother of the deceased having suddenly decided to make an appearance. Lisbon sighed; it was a small town and news traveled fast. As the four of them walked into the hall the gossiping and whispers about whether or not it was suicide or murder and if it was murder, who had killed the boy, slowly ebbed away. It was as if the family could tell that the 'big guys' had just descended on the scene and that now it was time to behave. Lisbon glanced to her right; Jane was wringing his hands together in an expectant fashion. Eventually, she beckoned a hapless-looking local officer towards her and nervously, he approached.

"You are?"

"Pieterson, ma'am," he spluttered. "Joseph Pieterson. You're Agent Lisbon, aren't you?"

Lisbon raised an eyebrow as the young lad, barely out of his teens, pointed at each of the other three in turn and named them too. Eventually, after Pieterson has calmed down somewhat, she instructed Van Pelt and Cho to start gathering information from those in attendance, while she and Jane went to see the body. As the words toppled out of her mouth, two women, one a red head, the other a brunette, both with equally fierce looks in their eyes approached her and both obviously fuming.

"He is not just a body," one hissed.

"He's _my_ son."

"He's mine," the brunette interrupted indignantly, her dark curls bouncing as she did. "I brought him up when you ran off with your millionaire boyfriend."

"I…"

Cho, having spotted the incident from across the room, swiftly intervened, allowing them to finally be free to actually assess what they were dealing with. As they disappeared into the bathroom, they were soon greeted with a pallid corpse. Luke Sayers appeared to have fallen out of his wheelchair as he had slipped into a hypoglycemic coma. Though he had seen the body before, being the first officer on the scene, Pieterson didn't seem to get particularly close to the body. Jane and Lisbon, however, unperturbed by the scene, both approached the dead teen, crouching beside him as if he were nothing more than a wooden log that had just been dropped in the men's bathroom for some unfathomable reason.

"He's overdosed with insulin," Pieterson muttered from the doorframe.

"Quick death then," Lisbon mused out loud. "How likely is it that it was a suicide?"

"Not possible," Jane stated. "How'd he get his needle all the way over onto the sink basin before he collapsed?"

"Good point."

"Lisbon?"

"What?"

"There's a tissue… I doubt it's his."

"Pick it…" Lisbon stopped, realizing that Jane, yet again hadn't bothered with latex gloves. "Oh for heaven's sake."

Elbowing him out of the way, she picked up the piece of tissue and placed it in an evidence bag. The blond, however, immediately knew that he hadn't ever been quite so pleased before in his life to receive an elbow in the kidneys and only took a couple of steps to get out of her way. Jane split his concentration between watching Lisbon with interest and taking another quick glance at the dead body. After all, if he didn't at least try and do his job properly, then she wouldn't be best pleased. And that would make things all the more difficult for him. He stepped out of her way two seconds too slow as she went to pick up the needle as well.

"Whoever did this to him knew what they were doing," Jane added.

"How so?" she asked, somewhat distractedly.

"They could find the vein with ease; they didn't mess up the injection."

"So medical staff, then?"

"Or family who have been trained to do so in case of emergency."

"Lisbon?"

"What now Jane?" she sighed; the man was being particularly insufferable.

"Doing anything interesting tomorrow?"

"Yup."

"Okay," he replied, pausing until curiosity got the better of him. "What?"

"The case, Jane. The case. It's what I do, isn't it?"

Jane could only gape in response as the petite brunette stalked off, Pieterson chasing after her like some kind of groupie.

Well, that went well.

He was Patrick Jane, expert of examination and master of manipulation. Yet, he couldn't do something as simple as ask a woman on a date. This was beyond a joke. His skills were either becoming a little rusty, something which he highly doubted or, Lisbon was just plain ignorant to his efforts. Yes, that had to be it. She was so used to focusing one hundred percent on the job that she just wasn't used to flirtation or the mere concept of being seduced. She'd just completely forgotten the whole notion of it.

And he had to change that or his name wasn't Patrick Jane.

**TBC...**


	2. Ruining a Reputation

**A/N:** Guess what? This is staying fluffy. Don't ask what came over me during the Secret Santa, I don't know. I'm just more than making up with it with _Entropy_ and _Addiction_ now. Hahaha. You can't have expected me to keep up with writing fluff for _that_ long...

Thank you so much to my beta, Divinia Serit. We drive each other nuts. It's a mutually beneficial relationship. ::hugs::

Thanks also go to: hoshinekoyasha, lisbon69, Penelope Louise, Habeous Corpus, blondieland, Chiisana Minako, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Frogster, Divinia Serit, lisbonloafers, Jadestar1981, mwalter1 and mtm for reviewing part one. Thank you so much, guys!

And Hoshi, here's the promised cat. Now let go of it, 'kay?

x tromana

* * *

**Part Two - Ruining a Reputation**

"I didn't appreciate having my family trapped in that drafty hall for so long," the brunette sniffed. "A lot of them are elderly, Agent Lisbon. If it's done any of them any harm whatsoever, I swear that my husband and I will sue the CBI for all it's worth."

"I'm sorry, Mrs. Sayers, but we did need to carry out our investigation," Lisbon replied tartly, while thinking that trying to sue the CBI wouldn't really be worth her while. "I'm sure you understand that."

"Yes, but that's beside the point…"

"Do you want us to find the murderer of your stepson or not?"

"My _son_, if you please."

"Your son, then."

Christine 'Chris' Sayers caused Lisbon a great deal of hassle rather than actually giving her any useful information whatsoever while Jane scouted around the lounge, trying to uncover any new information without the family's knowledge. Despite the fact the woman was insistent that Lisbon referred to her stepson as her son, there wasn't a single picture of them together, in fact there was only one of the eighteen year old. Smirking, he approached Lisbon and leaned over to whisper the information in her ear, knowing full well that she'd find it inane and irrelevant. Really, he was just using it as an excuse to be closer to her than was entirely necessary in civil company. She glared at him in response and he backed away slightly, instead choosing to place a hand on her left shoulder.

"And you know of no reason why anyone would want to kill him? Nobody with a grudge?"

"Who would want to kill a disabled boy on his eighteenth birthday?"

"Yes, that does sound implausible," Jane agreed as Lisbon batted him away with an angry hand. "You keep saying you're proud of your son. Where are the photos then?"

"He was camera shy," she replied, a little too fast. "He was embarrassed by his wheelchair."

"Well, thank you, Mrs. Sayers," Lisbon replied quickly, before Jane could do any further damage. "We'll let you know if we need anything else."

The woman shrugged noncommittally but still stood to walk the pair to the front door. She hadn't approved of having them in her house, especially while her husband was out dealing with that floozy of an ex-wife. That woman was who real police officers should be dealing with rather than her. And that Jane character had freaked her out somewhat; it was like he could tell all of her deepest, darkest secrets, some which Chris wanted to keep secret more than others. But everyone had a few of those and he had no right nosing around her house as if it was some kind of museum. She was just grateful that her kids were out so they hadn't been exposed to the farce of a questioning.

"What the hell is your problem, Jane?" Lisbon hissed the moment that the front door was shut. "Give me some space, will you?"

Jane threw his hands up in a non-threatening gesture as Lisbon pushed passed him and stormed straight to the van. He smirked; someone had obviously switched her coffee for decaf in the morning. Of course, he had a shrewd idea who that was, mainly because it was him who had supplied her with it. It was all for her own good though - too much caffeine caused a whole plethora of unpleasant side effects including headaches, irritability and anxiety. If she just cut down a little, she would probably feel tons better and he had seen it as his responsibility to nudge her in the right direction.

When they reached CBI headquarters, despite the fact Jane had let her drive without a fight and despite the fact he had barely spoken to her as they traveled back, Lisbon seemed to arrive in a worse mood than when their journey began. He had no idea why. It might have had something to do with the fact that he had taken to staring at her for part of the trip, mainly because she was far more interesting than the passing scenery and the exposed skin of her neck was particularly fascinating. When her eyes had briefly flickered from the road to his face, he offered a broad smile, to which she scowled in response. Cho smirked at him as Jane despairingly watched Lisbon disappear into her office, slamming the door firmly behind her.

"You're hopeless, Jane," Cho stated. "And I thought Rigsby had problems."

Jane quickly screwed up the newspaper he'd absent-mindedly picked up while in Lisbon's car and attempted to chuck it at Cho's head. Instead, the agent caught it and swiftly threw it into the bin. The consultant crossed his arms in mock annoyance and Cho eyed him seriously.

"If you don't sort yourself out, somebody else is going to get there before you," he continued. "But then again, at the rate you're going, even that stray cat that's in the parking lot could probably get there before you."

With his head hanging in irritation, Jane slunk over to the couch and sank down onto it, relieved that the goading Asian agent was no longer in his line of sight and he stared at Elvis, lamenting. Cho thought a flea-bitten cat had more hope than he did and _that_ was doing absolutely nothing for his credibility.

Lisbon only exited her office twice: once for coffee and the second time when Rigsby and Van Pelt appeared in the bullpen, after having gone to question the ex-wife. According to Rigsby, her temperament was as fiery as her hair had been, something which caused Van Pelt to glare at him. However, they hadn't actually managed to gather much more information and had had to break up a scuffle between the woman and her ex, something which nearly resulted in the pair of them being arrested. Apparently, the woman only saw her son sporadically, something which she naturally blamed on her son's father and his 'bitch of a wife', but according to her, she still doted upon her son despite his apparent disabilities. Eventually, she left them to get back to their tasks, simply wishing that they could get a break in the case somewhere, somehow. She needed caffeine again and fast. She smiled briefly when she caught Cho, waiting absent-mindedly for some water to boil for his coffee.

"Cho? Have forensics got back with fingerprinting yet?"

"You really expect them to be that quick?" he answered quickly.

"No, but I can hope."

The rest of the day went smoothly, though they still had no break and still no results from forensics. As people slowly started filtering home, Jane decided it would be safer to try and sneak out of the building late, when virtually everybody else except the cleaning and security staff had left. When quiet had descended upon the bullpen, he made his move. Once outside, he grinned as he looked up at the shining stars, partially obscured by the golden glow of street lights. There were a lot of people who thought the natural night sky was more important than pedestrian's safety, but he didn't mind much either way. What he wasn't impressed with, however, was spotting Lisbon in the corner of the parking lot, luring the CBI's stray out of its hiding place and doing a very good job at it, at that. She smiled brightly as the animal purred eagerly around her legs while she took a fork and dish out of the plastic carrier bag by her side.

Cho must have known that she'd been feeding it. Either that, or the cat was conspiring against him too.

**TBC…**


	3. Sometimes, Being Blunt is Best

**A/N: **As this is such a different thing for me to be writing, I'm so glad that you're all enjoying this. Heh, I love my angst-fests really.

Thank you to yaba, lisbon69, mtm, dizzy - in - the - izzy, Chiisana Minako, Divinia Serit, mwalter1, Jadestar1981, WingfieldLegend, Frogster and blondieland for reviewing part two.

And massive thanks to Divinia Serit for making sure I actually wrote this. And you know, betaing and stuff. ::hugs::

Now, I'm going to grab some breakfast before doing some more writing. Oh my life is oh so interesting.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Three - Sometimes, Being Blunt is Best**

When Lisbon had arrived at work, the first thing she did was announce to the occupants of the bullpen that she didn't want to be disturbed unless they had any news about the case. Without another word, she disappeared into the kitchenette, not trusting anyone else to fix her morning coffee after yesterday's debacle that mainly revolved around her caffeine withdrawal. Cho, at this revelation, raised a skeptical eyebrow in Jane's direction. He gave the blond man five minutes until he got bored and decided to disturb the boss. Especially given the consultant's apparent interest and determination to seduce the poor woman in the immediate future. The Asian agent had already decided that Jane's fervor was either going to mean that Lisbon would comply somewhat willingly to his desires or that he was doomed from the start. Which way it was more likely to go still appeared to be approximately a fifty-fifty chance, however.

Cho was absolutely right. Five minutes of staring at, but not actually doing, a crossword puzzle and Jane was already yearning for contact with the brunette agent. And he'd already formulated plans as well. In fact, it was all he'd been thinking about overnight while the majority of California slept. Yes, he'd dismissed it as sophomoric in the past. Yes, it was a little bit, well, simple and he was famed for liking tricks and complexity. But, in some cases, the easy things were the most effective. And if she couldn't pick up the less 'direct' hints, sometimes you just had to rely on the proven, safe techniques. Okay, so he didn't exactly have any theories on the case and that was likely to piss her off, but that wasn't going to stop Jane. He pushed himself up from his couch and strolled over towards Lisbon's office, managing to time it so that he met her just in front of the door to her office. Smiling brightly, he twisted his hands together, noting just how sweaty his palms had become. That was unusual, to say the least. He pulled his gaze up from the floor, to spot her green eyes, catlike and unblinking, focused on him and looking ever so slightly bemused.

"Yes, Jane?" she prompted when he had remained silent for a good thirty seconds, hoping, yet doubting he would have something useful to say.

"I was wondering, as it's likely to be another late night…" Jane sucked in a deep breath. It had been years since he had been this nervous around a woman. "Would you like to go out for dinner? My treat."

Lisbon blinked at him and Jane glanced to the ground yet again, ever so slightly embarrassed. Was she trying to work out what the catch was? Because if she was, he was trying to be genuine. He had a feeling that, going by her previous reactions, if he bluntly told her that, she would probably just laugh in his face.

"Sure," she answered, pushing her door open with her free hand and a smile broke out across Jane's face. "Guys? Jane's just offered to take us out for dinner. A quiet night out as we're still working on a case, right Jane?"

The team murmured their appreciation, Rigsby, somewhat unsurprisingly, being particularly vocal. She beamed brightly at him and allowed the door to swing shut between them while she took up residence in her office. At least he'd gotten a step further and they were going to be spending their free time together. Only thing was, she had opened up his invitation to the others and that meant that he was going to have to somehow try and lose them without the brunette becoming suspicious.

Jane didn't know whether or not to be thrilled or disappointed when Lisbon sent him and Cho out to talk to the stepmother for a second time. After all, forensics had just got back and stated that the only prints on Luke Sayers' needle, other than his own, were that of Christine's. It could either be a massive coincidence or the stepmother was the guilty party. Lisbon secretly hoped that it was the latter; that would mean the case would be swiftly solved and Jane wouldn't have had time to get up to his normal hijinks.

"That wasn't what you meant, was it?" Cho asked the moment that they had pulled out of the CBI parking lot. "Taking all of us out to dinner?"

Jane shook his head in response. He hoped that Cho, in showing his understanding of the situation, would be more than happy to excuse himself from the meal, meaning he only had to somehow shake off Van Pelt and Rigsby later on.

"I'm still coming, you know?"

Or, in typical Cho fashion, he would continue goading him as he had Rigsby. Jane sank miserably into his seat, trying to avoid looking at the smirk erupting on the Asian agent's face. He should have known that Cho wouldn't want to miss out on the meal, not for the free food, but for the sheer entertainment purposes that the man no doubt anticipated would unfold. What with Rigsby and Van Pelt pretending nothing was happening between them under their boss' nose and the blond's determination to wine and dine said boss, it was going to be interesting to say the least.

When they arrived at their destination, Jane was thoroughly relieved to get out of the car, mainly because it only seemed like Cho opened his mouth to tease him. As he approached the house, two young kids were out playing in the yard - a boy and a girl - and neither batted an eyelid as he approached them. The boy kicked a soccer ball in Jane's direction and within a matter of seconds, the three of them were involved in a rough game of soccer, though it lacked any semblance of structure and rules. The children froze when Cho eventually approached them, deciding that Jane had had enough fun and games for one day.

"So, where's your Mom?" Jane asked the boy who scooped up the ball with a shrug. "Oh c'mon, you must have some idea. What about your Dad?"

"Leave Archie alone!" the girl snapped. "When he says he dunno, he means he dunno."

"Who's looking after you then?" Cho queried, his patience running thin.

"Our brothers, duh," she stated as if it's the most obvious thing in the world. "C'mon Archie, we shouldn't talk to strangers."

Unperturbed, Cho strolled through the gate to knock on the front door, completely ignoring the protests of the children. He simply scowled at them and rapped smartly on the red-painted front door. Eventually a harassed looking eighteen year old man answered the door, having grown fed up with the noise.

"Hi, CBI," Cho spoke while quickly flashing his badge. "Can we have a few words."

The brunette shrugged and allowed the door to swing open so that Jane and Cho could follow him inside.

"We're very sorry for the loss of your stepbrother," Jane said and he shrugged again. "Where were you when I came here with Agent Lisbon?"

"Baseball."

"Oh. Where's your Mom?"

"Dunno."

"Out of interest, can you actually speak in sentences?"

"Yeah."

"Prove it."

"Why should I?"

"Aha!"

"Oh, big deal."

"So you're here looking after your younger brother and sister?"

"And the chameleon."

Once he had imparted the important knowledge of looking after said chameleon, he seemed to refuse to speak again. At a loss, they left in silence, but not before the younger two children managed to involve Jane in a second game of soccer. Once they were back in the car, Cho had already decided that gate crashing Jane's dinner was definitely payment enough for him messing around with the kids. Part of him had really wanted to take the eighteen year old back with him, but he didn't really have grounds to do so. Besides, he had pretty much confirmed that his mother had done a runner with a husband. Something which painted them both guilty in Cho's eyes.

Lisbon was still scowling in irritation at the latest developments in the case when Jane picked her up from her home at seven p.m. sharp. Despite, or maybe because of her annoyance, the blond decided she looked particularly alluring. It may also have had something to do with the fact that she was wearing a skirt, something which only happened once in a blue moon. The skirt which was seemingly her only acknowledgement that this was a semi-formal occasion which wasn't suited to the sharp suits she wore to work.

"You're still annoyed that our prime suspect has done a disappearing act, aren't you?" Jane commented nonchalantly as he drove rather sedately to the restaurant he had picked out.

"Yes!" she snapped, before calming down slightly. "Yes. And I suppose this is the time when you tell me not to worry, she isn't guilty anyway and you'll have the murderer within the next twelve hours?"

Lisbon glared at him, skeptical eyebrow raised and he tore his eyes from the road in front of him to flash her a quick, cheeky grin.

"Keep your eyes on the road, Jane."

"Yes ma'am," he replied. "And no, I'm not going to tell you not to worry about her because I'm fairly certain she's guilty too."

"Oh."

"You were hoping for me to say otherwise?"

She shrugged and they fell into a restive silence. When they pulled up at the restaurant, the other three were waiting at the door, Van Pelt shivering under Rigsby's jacket and Rigsby trying to look like he was tough enough not to be afraid of a little bit of cold weather. As Jane helped an unappreciative-looking Lisbon out of the car, he decided that he'd have found the pair of them hilarious. If he hadn't had Cho watching his every move or his ulterior motives, of course. It would have helped if the brunette wasn't so damn stubborn too. He quickly decided this was either going to go without a hitch or be an absolute disaster. For some reason, he had a feeling that the latter was more likely than the former.

**TBC…**


	4. Strawberry Seduction

**A/N: **Glad everyone is still enjoying this. Once I got into it, it was surprisingly good fun to write.

Thank you to: yaba, WingfieldLegend, Divinia Serit, Out In - The Rain, Chiisana Minako, amber, mwalter1, dizzy - in - the - izzy, mtm, Viktorija, Frogster, lisbonloafers and Cora Clavia for reviewing part three.

Ugh my head hurts and I have an opticians appointment. Happy Christmas Eve, folks.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Four - Strawberry Seduction**

When Jane awoke before dawn, it took him a few seconds to actually register where he was lying because it certainly wasn't either of his houses and _definitely_ wasn't the CBI headquarters. It was hardly surprising that he suffered from temporary disorientation; he hadn't been inside Lisbon's home since that time he'd hypnotized her, mainly because he didn't want to impose himself on her. From his position on the couch, he quickly glanced around and eventually cast his eyes up the staircase, where he spotted Lisbon halfway down, frozen to the spot and dressed in just a small tank top and some shorts. She smiled weakly at the blond, obviously embarrassed not only by her attire but also by the fact that she had just disturbed him.

"Lisbon."

"I'm sorry," she muttered, quickly rushing towards the kitchen area. "I didn't mean… I just wanted a glass of water."

"I was awake anyway," he replied with a shrug.

"You weren't."

"I was."

Lisbon shook her head as she slipped a tablet between her lips. She swallowed it, grimacing slightly.

"Never mind. I'm going to shower," she announced. "Get some rest. You still look terrible."

As she walked past him, she threw a packet of ibuprofen in his direction and it landed neatly in his lap. Jane frowned as she tossed her hair back over her shoulder and glanced back at him, smirking somewhat before climbing back up the staircase. He let his head flop back down on the pillow he'd been given the night before. Had she really just shot him a flirtatious grin instead of the expected sly smile?

Just what the hell had happened at the meal the night before?

Despite the fact she had told him to sleep, Jane decided that it was only fair to fix breakfast for her. It was the least he could do. After all, he was obviously inadvertently causing her hassle, something which he really hadn't meant to do. Still, it could have been worse. Lisbon didn't seem like she was fuming, more amused by the whole situation, which was something that worried Jane to no end. As he waited for the kettle to boil to make himself a cup of tea, his mind ran at a thousand miles an hour, planning and scheming. Not only did he have to make it up to her, but he also wanted to try and work out just what happened _and _he was still determined to get one step closer to her.

That had been the point of the meal, after all. Even if he had completely forgotten it thanks to a massive hangover that felt like it was clogging up all his senses. That was probably Cho's fault - the smug bastard he was.

Once Lisbon had finished showering, changed and headed downstairs with her hair still damp, she frowned to see that Jane had already disappeared. All that was present was a bowl of fruit salad, with extra strawberries chopped into it, on the table, with a glass of pomegranate juice placed neatly on the right and a folded piece of paper to the left. As she sat down, she opened the piece of paper with interest and her frown deepened as she read four simple words: _see you at work_. It bothered her more than it should have; she'd been looking forward to having some company on the half an hour journey to CBI headquarters. Part of her wasn't surprised that he had already left. If she'd been in his shoes, after his drunken admissions, she'd have disappeared as soon as possible too.

When she did eventually arrive at work, the rest of the team were already in and had their heads down, focusing attentively on their tasks. Each of them greeted their boss in their individual ways - a nod from Cho, a bright smile from Van Pelt, a cheerful wave from Rigsby - but none of them could explain where Jane was. Apparently he had arrived before them and once they were all in, he'd simply proclaimed 'strawberries!' rather excitedly and disappeared. And none of them could explain just why he had been so enthusiastic about strawberries either - they'd all just written it off as being one of Jane's quirks. Something which was very understandable and easy to forgive them for. Lisbon simply shrugged when the conversation came to a close and headed towards her office. She wasn't adverse to the idea of a Jane-free day. It meant that they were more likely to actually get something constructive done. And what with their prime suspect being on the loose, that could only be a good thing.

It was Cho who approached her with the news that Christine and her husband had been spotted in a town two hours away. Within a matter of minutes, they were both on the road, leaving Van Pelt and Rigsby to man the phones and computers back at HQ. They drove in a calm, pleasant silence, neither of them particularly needing to say anything. Despite that, Lisbon was intrigued. She wondered if Cho knew more about Jane's weirdness than what she had found out last night. Part of her suspected that he did, but she knew that he wouldn't bring it up. Partially because he wouldn't want to embarrass her and also because he was a man of few words. She sighed in annoyance while simply hoping that this little excursion would be beneficial. The case seemed to be overwhelmingly simple - they'd cracked money trails confirming that Mr. and Mrs. Sayers had stockpiled insulin and the ex had confirmed that Mr. Sayers had threatened to kill her son on several occasions. And even Jane's 'hunches' agreed with the concrete evidence, for a change.

Meanwhile, Jane slinked back into the CBI headquarters, laden with bags. Rigsby and Van Pelt didn't even bat an eyelid as he jimmied the lock to Lisbon's office and set up camp in there. After all, it was just Jane and it was virtually impossible to get him to explain any of his plans, which was why whenever he had a madcap scheme up his sleeve, most of them just went along with it blindly. When he asked them to keep Lisbon out of her office as long as possible when she got back, they just shrugged their shoulders and went on with their work. There was nothing unusual in Jane trying to do weird things to piss off and enamor the boss in equal measures. The pony, which caused all manner of problems for everyone involved, had been evidence enough of that.

When Lisbon did arrive back, she was in such a foul mood that neither Rigsby nor Van Pelt dare take it up with her. As she stomped off to Minelli's office, Cho quickly explained how the couple they were tailing had gotten wind that they were coming and fled, effectively setting them back to square one. Rigsby nodded sagely while slurping on his strawberry milkshake, thoroughly relieved he hadn't been the one to accompany her out to wherever she and Cho had gone. Though he was suddenly dreading whatever it was that Jane had done to her office…

"Guys, go home," Lisbon announced suddenly, jolting him out of his reverie and causing him to spill some of his drink down his tie. "There's nothing left for us to do tonight. I'm just going to grab some files from my office and head off too."

In appreciation of an early night and for fear of being shouted out once she opened her door, Rigsby and Van Pelt pretty much ran to the elevator, with Cho close behind. Lisbon shrugged, not thinking much of it but was disconcerted when she saw her blinds had been shut. She was sure she'd left them open earlier. Not only that, an ethereal golden glow was being cast out through the slits into the darkened corridor. Tentatively, she unlocked the door and pushed it open.

Lisbon blinked twice, trying desperately to work out whether or not she was imagining the scene that had been set up in her office. She didn't know where to start. The idea of a picnic was quite sweet and the perpetrator had remembered to include all her favorite foods, but really there was a time and a place. And the candles really were a fire hazard and she had been extremely tired, particularly looking forward to the early night she had somehow managed to organize for herself. She jumped when somebody's, though she could be fairly certain that it was Jane's, hand found its way onto her shoulder.

"So, what do you think?"

As she heard Jane's dulcet tones a little too close to her ear, she wheeled around, accidentally knocking the glass of champagne he had in his hand over his suit. Lisbon's hand flew to her mouth, partially out of shock and partially to stop herself from laughing at him. She carefully extracted herself from his grip and carefully navigated around food and candles to her desk. Once she safely arrived there, she pulled a tissue out from the box and handed it to him. Leaving him to mop himself up, she turned on her lamp and wandered around the small space, extinguishing each of the tiny flames.

"Well?" he repeated as she had her back turned to him.

"I think you should go home, Jane," she replied. "That's where I'm going."

She watched as Jane's face fell and suddenly began to feel fairly guilty. But her muscles ached, a headache was ensuing and all she wanted to do was relax in the bath with a nice, hot cup of tea. It also didn't help that she still wasn't sure why he was being so ridiculous - if he wanted something, he could simply ask but she had a feeling that he was just being terribly stubborn on that front. Nor did it help that that very same trait was stopping her from asking as well. Lisbon glanced around her office and quickly decided that she'd rather tidy up in the morning than spend another hour undoing the consultant's mess. Picking up a plate of chocolate-dipped strawberries that had been placed in the middle of the rug, she walked past him. It hadn't taken her long to decide there was absolutely no way that she was going to leave behind that kind of a treat. Jane's face had dropped surprisingly quickly and she offered an apologetic smile in return, but she really hadn't the energy to deal with his fun and games. Chris Sayers' games were wearing her thin enough as it was.

"Thank you," she added, almost as an afterthought. "I'll see you tomorrow."

Jane shuffled back out into the bullpen along with her, his eyes never leaving her as she precariously balanced the plate while locking the door. As she sauntered away towards the elevator, his eyes became fixated on the swish of her hips. Damn the woman. Whether or not she knew it, she was definitely torturing him now.

**TBC…**


	5. Minelli Approves

**A/N: **Okay, so who else has been absolutely fuming when it comes to FFN? I can't believe it decided to play up two weekends in a row. I was honestly going to put this up yesterday morning. Ugh.

Rant over.

Anyway, thanks to: mtm, yaba, Cora Clavia, mwalter1, dizzy - in - the - izzy, blondieland, Viktorija, Frogster, lisbonloafers, Katharen Silver, Divinia Serit, Famous4it, Jadestar1981 and Ebony10 for reviewing part four. The final part, provided the site doesn't decide to play up again, should be up very soon.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Five - Minelli Approves**

Jane casually leaned on the door frame as he watched Lisbon place the various candles into a box and then proceeded to roll up the rug. Before he had arrived at work, she'd already placed the food items that had been strewn across her office floor on the table in the kitchenette, with a note stating that people should just help themselves. There was far too much for two people anyway, but Rigsby would no doubt be thrilled by its presence and make a good headway into it without any need for further instruction. She only noticed that the blond was hanging about behind her when she boxed up the final item. Smiling shyly, she approached him slowly. Feeling significantly better than yesterday evening, with all those aches and pains, the guilt for running out him the night before had begun to hit her hard - she hadn't even been able to enjoy that bath she had been anticipating so much.

"Hey, Jane."

"Hi."

"Look, about last night… I…"

"It's okay," he interrupted.

And he meant it. He'd thought about it during yet another sleepless night and decided that he should have known better. After all, Lisbon had had a long day running around the state on a fruitless quest. The last thing she'd want to come back to was a picnic in her office. A steaming mug of cocoa and _the Wizard of Oz_, before a bath and a relatively early night was far more like it. Besides, if he had his own way, there would be plenty of time for impromptu surprises and spending their time together. He smiled as he focused on her eyes, watching intently as her gaze kept dropping back to the floor.

"Did you have a relaxing evening?" he queried.

She shrugged, but her lips curled upwards slightly at his assumption. Sometimes, Lisbon wondered if she was simply transparent to him rather than translucent. At least being translucent meant that there was some smoke and mirrors involved but Jane could read her like an open book, so she didn't believe that for a second. Eventually, growing nervous of the tense silence that had enveloped them, Lisbon headed towards the sanctuary of her desk and sat behind it with relief. Jane simply followed and took a seat opposite her.

"Any news…"

"Lisbon, a word please?"

Lisbon swore she heard heard her neck crack as she glanced up to see Virgil Minelli in her door frame, standing just behind the consultant. Nodding slightly, she rose to her feet and apprehensively followed him towards his office, but not without apologizing profusely to Jane. Minelli didn't normally unexpectedly summon her to his office, not unless there was a new case or Jane had been particularly unruly. He couldn't be giving them yet another case, surely? He already had them working at breaking point and Jane had been behaving - for a change. Shaking her head, she tried to clear her mind of her unnecessary thoughts. She had a tendency to overanalyze things; her brothers would occasionally joke they could hear her thoughts despite the fact she was in California and they were still over in Chicago whenever they spoke on the phone. Apprehensively, she stepped into his office and perched on the seat opposite her boss, waiting patiently for him to begin.

"It's about Jane," he started. "There's been a change."

"Sir?" she answered, somewhat disconcerted.

"A _good_ change, Lisbon," he continued. "Whatever it is you're doing, I want you to keep it up. "The number of complaints we've received has dropped by half in the last two weeks. At this rate, I wouldn't be surprised if the deputy A.G. started calling simply because she missed our discussions."

"Right," she replied, thoroughly bemused.

Minelli smiled and Lisbon waited for the catch. The director never called people into his office to congratulate them, unless he was offering them a promotion or he had to let them go for some reason. While she had been a senior agent for a couple of years now, she certainly wasn't ready to move on and she'd long assumed that her boss knew that too. So, she suspected he was building her up to let her down. Maybe they hadn't enough money to continue funding her team or perhaps her contract simply wasn't going to be renewed in six month's time? She frowned at her superior and he looked at her quizzically.

"What I want to know is…"

She leaned back and crossed her arm across her chest, bracing herself for whatever it was that Minelli had to say.

"Is there something…"

"Boss?"

Minelli stopped talking and Lisbon turned to face a nervous Rigsby, who had just walked into the office without invitation, mainly because he hadn't been thinking. Straightening his tie, he approached the pair of them and swallowed deeply. Realistically, he knew that he should have knocked but Cho had told him to hurry because Lisbon would be furious if she didn't find out about the newest information quickly.

"Yes?"

Rigsby gulped as they both spoke simultaneously. Though he would never admit it, Lisbon could still scare him on occasion and what with Minelli being _her_ superior, well, it was unsurprising that he felt rather intimidated. Still, he was here for a reason so hopefully the pair of them wouldn't be too mad.

"We've found a lead… the Sayers couple… their car spotted an hour away."

"Okay… Sir?"

"Go do your job, Lisbon," he nodded in agreement. "We can finish the later."

With a small sense of relief thanks to the reprieve that Rigsby had just offered her on a silver platter, she quickly left the office with the younger agent. Also thrilled with the news, she immediately sent Rigsby to wait in the van for her. Perhaps just traveling with him would help her clear her head when it came to Jane and his nonsense. Whatever it was he wanted of her, she needed to have her own mind set straight; flirting mercilessly with him without knowing where she stood on the situation could prove to be very dangerous indeed. Besides, they did need to get there fast. She didn't want information leaking again like it had yesterday.

Jane was disappointed and more than a little hurt when he found out that not only had Lisbon left to tail after their suspects yet again without him, but she hadn't even had the decency to tell him. He figured that she would come up with some inane excuse about how time was of the essence and that they didn't want to risk them disappearing again or something like that. While that was true, it didn't really stop it from annoying him. If she was going anywhere, nine times out of ten, she'd ask him along for the ride and the rest of the time, she'd explicitly tell him to stay put because she didn't want him to cause any unnecessary damage.

"You're thinking about Lisbon, aren't you?"

Jane propped himself up on his couch to see that Cho had placed down the quiz book he'd been intently filling in all week. The Asian agent observed Jane with interest and the blond found himself squirming underneath his intense gaze. It wasn't a reaction that he'd normally have when Cho stared at him, but he figured it was because his astute colleague was about to start goading him again. Cho had no romantic interests in someone he worked with, so therefore seemed to have decided to tease everyone who did. That meant that the rest of the team had were all viable targets, apart from maybe Lisbon, purely because he respected her position too much.

"She does know, you know," Cho continued when Jane remained, surprisingly, mute. "She's not stupid. In fact, I'm impressed with just how well she's playing you."

"…oh."

"Give her time," he assured the blond. "She's just not used to thinking about anything other than work and her family."

"Cho, I could kiss you."

"Please don't," he said. "Given the choice, I'd rather be known as Kimball Cho: Interrogator and Relationship Counselor."

"Really?" Jane squeaked and Cho nodded slyly in response. "In that case, I think it'd catch on."

Jane settled back down with a smile on his face and unwittingly, fell asleep. He only opened his eyes just in time to see a triumphant Lisbon guiding a handcuffed woman through to the interrogation room and after a quick stretch, followed her through. The questioning didn't take long and soon, they had confessions written down for both husband and wife. Jane shuddered; how anyone could justify killing their child, even as a 'mercy' killing was beyond him. The child's biological mother, the red headed woman who Rigsby had taken a dislike to, had also stopped by and explained tearfully how her husband and his new wife had slowly but surely denied her access to her son.

Once their perpetrators had been dealt with and the victim's mother had left, the team had quickly shared a modest box of chocolates that Rigsby had brought in. Lisbon remained behind, just finishing off a few loose ends when it came to paperwork, relieved that a sense of calm had enveloped the work place. It had been a relief to have a relatively easy case fall into their laps every so often, even if there was a lot of running around to do to actually make their arrests. Parent is ashamed of child's disability and doesn't want to be lumbered with the responsibility of caring for him for the rest of his life, parent kills child. It was horrifying, as most murders were, but at least it wasn't seemingly confusing for the sake of it. Truth be told, it would be the following clean up that was more difficult and _that _was the reason they had been called in. The pro-life protestors would be up in arms about the fact that a life was taken simply because he wasn't want society viewed as normal and while Lisbon believed they had a point, protesting about a murder wasn't going to bring Luke Sayers back.

When she eventually left her office, after closing the blinds and locking the door, she noticed that Jane was still present in the bullpen. His eyes were firmly shut as he reclined on the couch, but she couldn't be sure whether or not he was actually awake or not. She smirked; he seemed to have been practically attached to that piece of furniture today. Lisbon approached him tentatively and sat on the arm of the couch, by his feet before daring to poke him. Startled, he stared around wildly before his eyes fell upon her and he calmed down, grinning.

"Oh, hello Lisbon."

"Patrick?"

"Yes?"

His smile faltered; the use of his first name had caught him slightly off guard. He couldn't actually recall a time when she hadn't called him anything but Jane, apart from maybe when introducing him to significant people involved in cases.

"We should talk."

**TBC…**


	6. Success?

**A/N: **Why does this website have a habit of logging you out part way through doing things? Grrr. Drives me absolutely nuts. Anyway.

Thank you to: mtm, Divinia Serit, WingfieldLegend, Viktorija, dizzy - in - the - izzy, lisbon69, yaba, lisbonloafers, Cora Clavia, blondieland, mwalter1, Jadestar1981, HOUSEMDFanForever and Sara E for reviewing part five. Glad people are still enjoying it as it isn't the usual type of thing I'd write.

Thanks to Divinia Serit for betaing and kicking me when I put off writing this.

Here's the last part - hope you enjoy it.

x tromana

* * *

**Part Six - Success?**

Jane's heart skipped a beat when she entwined her fingers with his own and pulled him to his feet. He found it intriguing how Lisbon had suddenly decided to take control of the situation and he was more than willing to go along with it. There had been a mischievous glint in her eyes, which he found particularly attractive. They walked in silence, out of the headquarters and she instructed him to get into her car.

"Why?" he asked, still unsure as to why they couldn't talk back in the bullpen. Part of him was desperate for them to just to get on with the talking, so they could carry on like normal or with whatever it was she had planned, which no doubt would be very interesting indeed. At that very second, he wasn't quite sure which option he preferred. Maybe this whole idea of seducing her, though he'd very much like to do so and she did deserve to feel special, had been stupid and foolhardy to say the least.

"Because I don't want you to walk away while we have this talk."

He stopped to stare intently at her and she didn't flinch as he did so, merely held her ground and indicated that she wanted him to get in again. Eventually, Jane gave in. The wind was brisk and nipping at his exposed skin. Lisbon was also being stubborn as ever, so it was easier for him to give into her whims for a change. It also meant he could find out what the hell she was thinking about. It was unusual, not knowing what was on her mind and Jane certainly didn't like feeling off balance. But it was no wonder she wanted him somewhere where he couldn't easily escape from. He knew that people still joked snidely behind his back that he was somewhat unbalanced, unhinged, but even he wasn't going to throw himself from a moving vehicle. Especially not one that contained Teresa Lisbon too. Well, unless it was on fire or about to blow up or something… but some things are a given.

Once she was certain he was safely buckled inside, she drove away sedately, but not without a courteous smile to the security guard who was working night shift. Jane glared at the man, not sure whether or not he should be thrilled that Lisbon was driving him off into the night or fuming because the man was letting her take him away to goodness knew where. He settled back down in the seat and shot Lisbon a look that she would be proud of, but she barely seemed to notice. Jane wasn't sure whether or not to blame this on the fact she was driving or whether or not she really had been distracted, emotionally speaking, recently. Out of habit, he started picking at his fingernails, before moving onto drumming his fingers against his inner thigh.

"What's going on, Jane?" she murmured and the sound of her voice eventually echoing around the car shook him from his trance-like state.

"I could ask you the same thing."

"I am taking you on a drive to find out why the hell you've been acting so weird recently," she answered smoothly. "And your behavior at that meal was, frankly, embarrassing."

"What did I do?"

"You were drunk. It doesn't matter."

"It does," he persisted.

Lisbon sighed and explained about how Cho had joked about how Jane would throw himself off a building if he thought it would impress her. That had given him the very bright idea to try and do just that, meaning that the team had spent half the evening trying to talk him down and prevent him from doing any harm to himself or others. The drunken declarations of love hadn't helped either. She quickly rationalized it with the fact he had had far too much to drink and that she completely understood that he didn't mean it and quickly asking if one of 'those' dates was coming up soon.

"Lisbon?"

"Yes?"

"Stop the car."

"No, you'll just get out."

"Just stop it, damn it."

"No."

"I won't get out, I promise."

"Yeah, because you haven't broken promises to me before," she replied derisively.

"I _won't_," he replied, almost forcefully. "I need you to trust me on this."

With a slight hiss and an expected roll of the eyes, she switched on the blinkers and pulled over when it was safe to do so. Tentatively, she killed the engine before folding her arms and glaring at Jane. She really hadn't wanted to stop driving; her idea had been literally to cut off all escape routes and now he'd just defied the objective by forcing her to pull over. It was absolutely typical of him, really.

After a few false starts, he started talking and she clung onto his every word, rather like his audiences did back when he was a practicing psychic. He smiled inwardly when he noticed that the faintest of blushes had crept onto her cheek after he'd waxed lyrical about just how beautiful he thought she was, even on a long, caffeine-deprived day. Lisbon had cringed as he justified everything he had done over the past week, realizing that her 'explanations' for his odd behavior had been completely off the mark. He never quite said those three words but she didn't expect him to. To be entirely honest, she knew that she'd be surprised if he ever did unless he was in the middle of an alcohol-induced haze. Eventually, when she was fairly certain he was rambling, she lifted an index finger and lightly placed it across his lips.

"Oh just shut up and kiss me, Jane."

A breath caught in her throat as his fingers encircled her wrist and pulled it away from his mouth, his fingertips pressing lightly on her pulse point. He pressed a gentle kiss to her palm, tongue darting out tasting a mixture of salt and soap. Jane hummed gently into her hand and she was certain that he was doing this on purpose, teasing the hell out of the pair of them. The way she had turned in the driver's seat pulled uncomfortably at her side and Lisbon was certain that he must have been suffering the same kind of discomfort, but strangely enough, it didn't particularly bother her. Certainly not while Jane was lavishing his full attention upon her. The fingers of his left hand had somehow migrated to her thigh, running up and down it while the right stayed put, carefully measuring her pulse, her reactions to his tender ministrations.

"Are you okay?"

She nodded, somehow unable to speak. Eventually, Jane's left hand moved to her cheek, cupping it so gently that Lisbon had to swallow hard to try and dispel her nerves. She wasn't even sure where they had came from - it wasn't as if she'd never been kissed before. Admittedly, it was the first time someone had ever come close to seducing her in a vehicle, her _own _vehicle, even if she had practically demanded it. It felt like eons had passed by the time she eventually felt Jane's lips brush against her own. Her right hand clutched his jacket lapel roughly while he continued to hold her left hand teasingly out of the way. Teeth nipped at lips, tongues battled and somewhere along the line, Jane let go of her hand so she could finally, finally bury it into those tantalizing blond curls of his. It was only when they pulled apart, breathless, that she realized just why he had relinquished it.

"No, not here," she hissed, batting his fingers away from her blouse buttons irritably. "I said, not _here_. Not now."

Jane frowned and pulled away as if he had just received on electric shock. Lisbon bit on her lip to stop herself from laughing at the kicked puppy expression he was pulling at her.

"Why not?"

"We're in a car."

"And?"

"And we need to think about this seriously."

"What's there to think about?"

"Your wife? Red John? The fact that I _barely_ trust you?"

"Meh, technicalities."

"I'd hardly say the fact that you want to murder a serial killer is a mere technicality, Patrick."

She didn't know quite why she had taken a serious turn, but she wasn't willing to ignore those issues, even if he was. She was an officer of the law, could she even justify it to herself that dating someone who had admitted that he wanted to break the laws that she not only stood by, but upheld? Lisbon turned away slightly and let her eyes fall onto the empty road panning out in front of her. There was a cross-road in the distance. Turn left, take this chance. Risk everything she'd ever worked for, ever dreamed of and all for Patrick Jane. Turn right, ignore this. Pretend it never happened. It was just one silly fumble in a car, not even that. A charged moment which anyone could be excused for, especially when it's Jane on your case. Left? Right? She knew she couldn't sit here forever, however much she wanted to right now. Literally or figuratively speaking.

"I… I like you. A lot, Teresa," Jane muttered. "I don't want to hurt you."

An unexpected tear fell on her cheek and he reached out to brush it away tenderly.

"I don't want to hurt _you _either."

"We can work on things."

"Are you sure about that?" she asked dubiously.

"I am," he confirmed. "You want to take it slowly?"

"Preferably," she admitted. "It'll give us time to work out if this is what we really want and if we can sort out our problems."

_And apply damage limitation, where necessary_, she thought. Though she didn't feel the need to vocalize that opinion.

Reluctantly, she removed his hand from her leg and placed the key back in the ignition. It wasn't long until they arrived back at her home, much to Jane's surprise. He had assumed that she was going to take them back to CBI headquarters, tell him to cool off a bit and that she would see him in the morning. He'd thought that she'd want to calm down, straighten her thoughts on her own, at the very least. But still, he wasn't going to complain. Wordlessly, she invited him inside and Jane sat on her couch, nervously waiting as she disappeared upstairs. Ten minutes later, she appeared at the top of the staircase dressed in that oversized jersey which he'd last seen when she had pretended to have a mental breakdown. Lisbon smiled briefly at him, as she skittered past him, mumbling something about tea. Unable to help himself, Jane followed her through to the kitchen, placing a hand on her slender waist as she dragged out her tea canister. Seconds later, the other arm joined it and he had her wrapped in a tight embrace.

"Damn it, woman," he hissed into her ear. "Are you intentionally teasing me or is that just an added benefit when wearing your comfortable clothes?"

"Oh it's entirely intentional," she replied, her voice taking on a huskier tone than she'd initially anticipated.

"And you still want us to take it 'slow'?" he questioned, taking the opportunity to nibble on her ear lobe as he had her pinned against the counter.

"Oh yes."

Damn her. Still, at least he had succeeded in part to move their relationship up a level, even if she did appear to be frankly terrified by the concept, though she was doing an excellent job of putting a mask on it. It was just going to be absolute torture keeping his hands off her and only moving as fast as she desired. And, possibly most importantly, unlike Cho had gleefully predicted, the flea ball in the parking lot hadn't won over Lisbon's affections either.

"What'd you think if I adopted the cat from the parking lot?" she asked nonchalantly, while dipping a teabag in hot water. "I really miss my dog and cats are better for people with erratic lifestyles, don't you think?"

Damn.

end


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